But OTOH it is consistently inconsistent. On any OS/platform you can be fairly certain that if you fire up chrome/chromium it will look almost exactly the same.
Furthermore the fact is that chrome's ui is quickly becoming the standard browser ui. Both IE 9 and Firefox whatever the hell version they are at now look very similar to it.

Yo_mama writes: The Supreme Court has ruled on Golan v. Holder, 10-545, which sought to overturn the reclassification of previously public domain works as copywritten.

"Neither congressional practice nor our decisions treat the public domain, in any and all cases, as untouchable by copyright legislation. The First Amendment likewise provides no exceptional solicitude for works in the public domain," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in her opinion for the court.

"When the 960×640 3.5-inch Retina Display was introduced with the iPhone 4, the rest of the smartphone industry had to do something about it. At the time most of the competition was at 800×480 on displays much larger. With the Retina Display Apple shifted the focus of attention on a smartphone display to resolution, specifically to a resolution threshold of about 300 ppi on a smartphone that’s used at a distance of about 12 inches.

Android OEMs and Google responded to the 3.5-inch 960×640 Retina display by improving the pixel format to 1280×720. But because Android renders text and graphics like desktop OSes (e.g. Windows, OS X) increasing resolution above 320 ppi means smaller UI elements. The display had to grow in size to compensate for shrinking UI elements. iOS renders the Retina display not by shrinking UI elements by one fourth but by doubling clarity and sharpness. Unless Google adds an additional “DPI level” beyond XHDPI, Android smartphones that match or beat the iPhone 4/4S in resolution will always be bigger, much bigger."

tripleevenfall writes: Microsoft will be able to throw a "kill switch" to disable or even remove an app from users' Windows 8 devices, the company revealed in documentation released earlier this week for its upcoming Windows Store.

"In cases where your security is at risk, or where we're required to do so for legal reasons, you may not be able to run apps or access content that you previously acquired or purchased a license for," said Microsoft in the Windows Store terms."If the Windows Store, an app, or any content is changed or discontinued, your data could be deleted or you may not be able to retrieve data you have stored," Microsoft said.

Both Apple and Google can flip such a switch for apps distributed by the iOS App Store and Android Market, respectively.

langelgjm writes: While much of the web is focused on the SOPA and PIPA blackout, supporters of the public domain today quietly lost a protracted struggle that began back in 2001.The Supreme Court, in a 6-2 decision, rejected the argument that Congress did not have the power to convey copyright upon works that were already in the public domain. The suit was originally filed to challenge provisions that the U.S. adopted when signing the TRIPs agreement. Justices Breyer and Alito dissented, arguing that conveyed copyright on already existing works defied the logic of copyright law. Justice Kagan recused herself. The text of the opinions is available here (PDF).

hype7 writes: "The Harvard Business Review has come out with an article extremely critical of SOPA. As opposed to a battle of "content" vs "technology", they are characterizing it as a battle of "giants" vs "innovators". From the article: "If you take a look at many of the largest backers of SOPA and PIPA — the Business of Software Alliance, Comcast, Electronic Arts, Ford, L'Oreal, Scholastic, Sony, Disney — you'll see that they represent a wide range of businesses. Some are technology companies, some are content companies, some are historic innovators, and some are not. But one characteristic is the same across all of SOPA's supporters — they all have an interest in preserving the status quo. If there is meaningful innovation by startups in content creation and delivery, the supporters of SOPA and PIPA are poised to lose.""

An anonymous reader writes: Trying to contact your senate representative regarding PIPA and SOPA? Well you won't be able to do it via the web. All Senate 'contact' links are redirecting to an error page. Does this represent a concerted effort by senators to ignore their constituents, or are so many of them using the forms that an inadvertent DDOS is going on?

AuMatar writes: I've been a professional programmer for 10 years. The startup I work for was recently bought, and while I was offered a full time job I opted to accept only a 6 month contract. At my most recent job I was lead developer for a platform that shipped tens of millions of units, leading a team that spanned up to 3 geographical areas, I've done everything from maintenance to brand new apps. About the only thing I haven't done is been lead architect on a large system. What else is there to look for in the next job so it won't just feel like the same challenges all over again?

Oh, and since I know slashdot all too well- I'm not interested in starting my own company. I don't want to deal with sales and marketing, and I have no desire to do a consultant type role. I'd consider technical cofounder of a startup, but I have no ideas I want to pursue at the moment. So I'm looking for suggestions assuming I'll be working for someone else.

msmoriarty writes: We knew Windows Server 8 was going to be a departure for Microsoft, including an "optional" GUI, but in a blog post made earlier this week, the Windows Server team said that working without the GUI will be the "recommended" method, and is telling developers not to assume a GUI will be present. According to Windows consultant and author Don Jones, this is a big hint to Windows admins that they better get used to not having a GUI in future releases. From the article: "I'm well aware that many Windows admins out there aren't looking forward to a GUI-less server operating system from Microsoft...I'm sure Microsoft has, too.They're proceeding anyway.We have two choices: adapt or die."